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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Phoenix Extravagant has all the right ingredients, but doesn't land the characters. It's got an interesting plot, unique alternate historical world-building, imaginative ideas, non-binary protagonist, numerous LGBTQ supporting cast, and some great word-work. However, the main character Jebi is just not compelling, and the rest of the cast are not fleshed out enough to get to know. And as a queer artist myself, you'd think I'd feel a lot of kinship for Jebi. But I just don't. A flawed main character CAN be interesting, but in this case they may be a bit too mundane for a fantasy book - I just wasn't invested. I really wish I was.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
One of the things I like about Fantasy Book Club is how many different types of fantasy book we read. I don’t think I’ve ever run across one where the main character was an artist before, and I probably wouldn’t have picked up Phoenix Extravagant just from the blurb if I didn’t have the extra incentive of a discussion to look forward to.
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel Yoon Ha Lee completely delivered on the promise of Jebi as an artist. Painting was certainly an activity that they did on multiple occasions, and once or twice it was mentioned that they doodled even when they weren’t ‘on the clock’, but I never really felt that Jebi had any great passion for art, even though they went to some lengths to make it their profession. This was a symptom of a larger problem with Phoenix Extravagantin that there was too much telling and not enough showing. As a reader, I was told that Jebi loved art, or that they were sad or afraid or passionate, but I was never really made to feel it.
What Phoenix Extravagant did do well, however, was world building. Ironically, this isn’t something I’m usually as interested in as other book club members, but I really liked the detail Yoon Ha Lee worked into this novel. His take on dragons was particularly cool, fusing elements that I’ve previously encountered in The Bone Shard Daughter and Witchsign into something new and different. That said, the more celestial side of things didn’t gel with me to the same degree.
Although it was only okay, I’m still glad that I read Phoenix Extravagant, especially because Arazi might be my favourite individual fantasy dragon in recent years!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, War
3.5/5
Just look at his cover - magnificent, isn’t? Dragons are cool, but automatic dragons are something else.
Phoenix Extravagant, set in a fantasy version of Korea during the Japanese occupation, revolves around politics, war, and rebellion. Instead of showing the conflict through the eyes of devious politicians or fighters, it follows Gyen Jebi, a non-binary painter destined (or rather maneuvered) to shift the scales of the conflict. A delightful change from the smash and bang seen often in occupation narratives. Gyen wants to paint, and they care little about politics or war.
The Empire of Razan conquered Hwaguk and transformed it into Administrative Territory Fourteen. Gyen’s sister, Bongsunga, has revolutionary ties. She feels betrayed when her sibling registers for Razanei name, hoping it’ll allow them to secure a job. Jebi accepts an offer from the Razan government’s defense sector. His job involves reducing classic Hwagugin artworks to magical pigments necessary to program the behaviors of automata used to control the populace. A neat magical system. Without getting into details, Gyen ends up teaming up with a mecha dragon against the government.
The world, while inspired by history, is extravagant, atmospheric, and mysterious. The book tackles the theme of colonialism and various forms of response from colonized nations (resistance, acceptation, partial assimilation). As mentioned before, politics happen in the background but influence Jebi’s life to the point where they can’t remain impartial. The choices they face and erratic actions they make pulled me through the novel.
While they unravel the mysteries surrounding recent massacre, they grow involved with the lives of a sizable cast of characters, including Arazi - a sentient mecha dragon. Gyen’s actions are never thought-out. They react on impulse and often finish in even bigger troubles.
Lee does a fine job breathing life into each of the protagonists, imbuing them with hidden depths that slowly reveal over the course of the book. That said, Gyen’s relationship with Vei felt slightly forced. I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. In contrast, Gyen and Arazi banter made me regularly smile.
Even though I liked the book, it has a few downsides. First, it’s somewhat predictable. Second, the climax of the book moves at jet speed but it doesn’t resolve all conflicts, and I would expect a stronger closure from a book marketed as a standalone.
Despite its stumbles, Phoenix Extravagant was well worth the time spent reading it. It’s fun and entertaining. I wouldn’t mind seeing more entries in this well-crafted world. The open (sort of) ending gives hope Arazi will return. Fingers crossed.
Just look at his cover - magnificent, isn’t? Dragons are cool, but automatic dragons are something else.
Phoenix Extravagant, set in a fantasy version of Korea during the Japanese occupation, revolves around politics, war, and rebellion. Instead of showing the conflict through the eyes of devious politicians or fighters, it follows Gyen Jebi, a non-binary painter destined (or rather maneuvered) to shift the scales of the conflict. A delightful change from the smash and bang seen often in occupation narratives. Gyen wants to paint, and they care little about politics or war.
The Empire of Razan conquered Hwaguk and transformed it into Administrative Territory Fourteen. Gyen’s sister, Bongsunga, has revolutionary ties. She feels betrayed when her sibling registers for Razanei name, hoping it’ll allow them to secure a job. Jebi accepts an offer from the Razan government’s defense sector. His job involves reducing classic Hwagugin artworks to magical pigments necessary to program the behaviors of automata used to control the populace. A neat magical system. Without getting into details, Gyen ends up teaming up with a mecha dragon against the government.
The world, while inspired by history, is extravagant, atmospheric, and mysterious. The book tackles the theme of colonialism and various forms of response from colonized nations (resistance, acceptation, partial assimilation). As mentioned before, politics happen in the background but influence Jebi’s life to the point where they can’t remain impartial. The choices they face and erratic actions they make pulled me through the novel.
While they unravel the mysteries surrounding recent massacre, they grow involved with the lives of a sizable cast of characters, including Arazi - a sentient mecha dragon. Gyen’s actions are never thought-out. They react on impulse and often finish in even bigger troubles.
Lee does a fine job breathing life into each of the protagonists, imbuing them with hidden depths that slowly reveal over the course of the book. That said, Gyen’s relationship with Vei felt slightly forced. I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. In contrast, Gyen and Arazi banter made me regularly smile.
Even though I liked the book, it has a few downsides. First, it’s somewhat predictable. Second, the climax of the book moves at jet speed but it doesn’t resolve all conflicts, and I would expect a stronger closure from a book marketed as a standalone.
Despite its stumbles, Phoenix Extravagant was well worth the time spent reading it. It’s fun and entertaining. I wouldn’t mind seeing more entries in this well-crafted world. The open (sort of) ending gives hope Arazi will return. Fingers crossed.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A wonderfully intimate fantasy, set against the background of war and colonisation. Yoon Ha Lee blends magic, art, and war machines in a book that focuses on the costs of constant occupation and the threat of war.
It’s an age-old question in science fiction -- when does the AI cease to be a tool and become and autonomous person? Or in this case, an autonomous monster of myth. Jebi is an artist who is trying to make a living under Razanei occupation; they have assimilated -- changed their name, and tried to apply for work, but things go wrong and they end up working for the Ministry of Armour. Jebi is bound to the enemy even while their own sister works with rebel forces trying to overthrow the occupying government.
And in a further twist, they find themselves drawn to the Duelist for the Ministry -- the same person who has caused their own family terrible pain in the past.
While working, Jebi uncovers the depth the Razanei government is going to in order to create an ultimate weapon. Through their art, Jebi steals that weapon,the mechanical dragon Arazi, and finds themselves no longer hiding on the fringes, but part of the revolutionary war that rages against the occupying forces, and torn between their hopes, their family, their loves.
This is magic laced with art and science, as expected by work from Yoon Ha Lee. His take on artificial intelligence, war, and the destructive nature of occupying forces and colonial capture is never black and white, but layered with nuance. People fail, people die, and it’s not ‘deserved’ or easy. People take sides, compromise their morals and ideals, but mostly, people hope. And in the dark and terrible things, there are also moments of love and beauty.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3⭐️ - good
I mostly really enjoyed this book. The premise of a non-binary artist protagonist in an Eastern centric world was pulled off well for the majority of this book, and the writing in the first and third acts was really good.
I have 2 main sticking points with this book. Firstly, the implication that non-binary people have a specific ‘look’. The emphasised fact that all geu-ae have a specific hairstyle is very harmful and seems really uneducated on the author’s part, a convenience in worldbuilding. And secondly, the weird shift of the second act. Suddenly the writing went from interesting plot and intriguing events to a childish amount of swearing and a badly written escape plot.
I do think this book is well done for representing many people, with a polyamory sideplot and a wlw sideplot and a nblw main couple. I just think the author didn’t have enough experiences with non-binary people and I don’t know if there were sensitivity readers on this book - it certainly seems like there weren’t. I still think this book is worth reading for the world and for the magic system though.
I mostly really enjoyed this book. The premise of a non-binary artist protagonist in an Eastern centric world was pulled off well for the majority of this book, and the writing in the first and third acts was really good.
I have 2 main sticking points with this book. Firstly, the implication that non-binary people have a specific ‘look’. The emphasised fact that all geu-ae have a specific hairstyle is very harmful and seems really uneducated on the author’s part, a convenience in worldbuilding. And secondly, the weird shift of the second act. Suddenly the writing went from interesting plot and intriguing events to a childish amount of swearing and a badly written escape plot.
I do think this book is well done for representing many people, with a polyamory sideplot and a wlw sideplot and a nblw main couple. I just think the author didn’t have enough experiences with non-binary people and I don’t know if there were sensitivity readers on this book - it certainly seems like there weren’t. I still think this book is worth reading for the world and for the magic system though.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I've only known Arazi and Jebi for a few days but I would kill for them.
When an artist ends up working - slightly against their will - for the enemy occupying their homeland, they couldn't image they'd end up learning the secret scripts that power the automatons... including an experimental dragon! I would have loved more dragon, actually, but that's just 'always' ;)
Highly enjoyable read - the story takes a little time to get flowing and then it speeds past - but marks off for a rather abrupt ending.
Full review is up on my blog.
Highly enjoyable read - the story takes a little time to get flowing and then it speeds past - but marks off for a rather abrupt ending.
Full review is up on my blog.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fun fantasy book that at it’s core is about the relationship between the protagonist and their sister. First half is really engaging and introduces a lot of very unique concepts. The second half is less interesting and takes a more standard fantasy route. Characters could have been more fleshed out. Overall still a very enjoyable read that I just wish would have been worked differently towards the end.
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story follows an interesting yet oblivious main character. It is well written and has many korean cultural references.